A French woman who reveals that she drugged and raped says Gisele Pelicot inspired her to seek justice.
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00:00Justine doesn't yet feel safe enough to talk publicly.
00:07She says she was raped and filmed after being given drugs in late 2021.
00:12But watching Giselle Pellicourt has given her new hope.
00:18Pellicourt is facing her abusers with her head held high and not behind closed doors
00:25as usually in a rape case.
00:28Giselle is a shining light that's exposing a dark side of society which some are trying
00:33to hide.
00:35We need to follow her lead.
00:37She stands for the power of speaking out, for the message that shame must change sides.
00:43It's the abusers who should feel ashamed, not us.
00:47She has given me the courage to return to court, which had put my case on hold.
00:52I will not give up until they pick it up again.
00:58Three years ago, Justine says, a female acquaintance drugged her and forced her into having sex
01:05with her and a man.
01:08She says the woman filmed the abuse and sent the videos to some of her friends and neighbours.
01:13Her lawyer filed rape charges after the police refused to do so.
01:18I'm absolutely devastated by what's happened to me.
01:22I get up in the morning thinking of this rape and the videos of it.
01:27I have to live with this abuse every day.
01:29I go to bed with it and the nightmares of it wake me up.
01:34A trained psychologist, Justine has found her own way of keeping her head above water
01:40while also helping other survivors.
01:44I did a few sessions of hypnosis and EMDR trauma therapy and realised they were helping
01:49me a lot.
01:50And so I learned how to give such therapy sessions to my patients, many of whom have
01:54been sexually abused.
01:56By helping them heal, I am healing myself.
01:59Maybe one day these deep wounds will close, but the scars of what we've gone through
02:03will be there forever.
02:09She hopes French society will be forced to change now, triggered by the sheer horror
02:15of the Pili court case.
02:18Through this court case, something has started that cannot be stopped.
02:23I hope that in the future, the police will have to systematically follow up on our complaints
02:29and the courts will have to take them into account.
02:33Her lawsuit shines a light on chemical submission.
02:38It highlights how even Mr Average could be a rapist and that chemical submission is really
02:44widespread across all walks of life.
02:51The government will revive a parliamentary commission on chemical submission, which could
02:56initiate a shift in the law.
02:59Justine is hoping that this will help her and other survivors to finally feel less alone.